Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what proportion of the £744 million in aid they have committed to address COVID-19 has been allocated to provide frontline assistance to less economically developed countries.

We have committed up to £764 million of UK aid funding to date, to support global efforts to combat COVID-19.

This includes up to £296 million to support and enhance resilience in vulnerable countries, encompassing:

• £145 million for UN appeals including: £75 million for the WHO; £20 million for UNICEF, £5 million for Education Cannot Wait, £20 million for the UN Refugee Agency; £15 million for the World Food Programme; and £10 million to UNFPA to provide lifesaving SRHR and gender based violence prevention.
• £55 million to International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement appeals to provide medical supplies and equipment to hospitals and clinics and the building of quarantine areas and disinfection facilities.
• £20 million for international NGO’s including UK charities using British expertise and experience to tackle COVID-19.
• £50 million DFID funding matched with Unilever, advising one billion people about the importance of hygiene and the distribution of over 20 million products.
• £6 million for medical and humanitarian expertise including the deployment of medical specialists from the UK Emergency Medical Team to vulnerable African countries.
• Up to £20 million in the African Union’s new COVID-19 Response Fund to tackle the virus and save lives.

We have also provided up to £150 million of UK aid funding to the IMF’s Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust to help developing countries meet their debt repayments so that they can focus their available resources on tackling COVID-19.